


Perhaps In Another Lifetime

by Just_A_Dream09



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28306665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_A_Dream09/pseuds/Just_A_Dream09
Summary: Raquel's life was in ruins after the heist. With her career destroyed, reputation torn apart in the media and heartbroken by both Alberto's abuse and Sergio's disappearance, she is left to her own devices to discover how she can survive. This story explores her emotional turmoil, the disastrous aftermath that she is left with after the heist and the strength of Raquel Murillo. Will she ever get to meet the mysterious Sergio Marquina that she has fallen in love with again?
Relationships: Raquel Murillo/Professor | Sergio Marquina
Kudos: 20





	Perhaps In Another Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first ever story but I was very inspired by everybody's stories, angles and perspective and wanted to give a shot at writing! I felt like Raquel's turmoil and suffering in the 1 year after the heist is not very widely explored and that her strenght, courage and bravery deserve more attention. This is my first time writing so it isn't perfect but I'm excited to begin my journey with you all. Merry Christmas!!! <3

Present Day-Spain

As the sun slowly rose and coloured the skies a lovely warm orange hue, signalling the dawn of a new day, Raquel awoke to the cold winter air where the silence of the morning is only broken by the thrills of birds. In that very moment, all that exist in Raquel’s world was Peace. Tranquillity. The cold winter air biting at her nose and how toasty and warm her body is under the duvet in comparison to her exposed face and hands. The way her little daughter slept peacefully beside her, her mouth pouting slightly. There was almost even a lightness in her, a spark of joy. The feeling of being unburdened. Something resembling a child-like sense of wonder. In these fleeting moments, Raquel could swear that nothing is wrong with her life.

“Except it all is”-said a voice in her head.

Shrugging off her warm blanket and taking a step onto the cold tiles carefully so as to not wake Paula up, Raquel started getting ready for the long day of work ahead of her. As quietly as possible, she slipped into the tiny little bathroom attached to the master bedroom and began with her routine. The meagre selection of toiletries and the bleak and dark looking bathroom stared back at her but she paid no heed to them.

“Be thankful for what you have”- Raquel chided herself quietly.

Proceeding next to prepare some breakfast for herself and her still-asleep family, she ventured into her also tiny kitchen and started making some instant coffee for herself. The sparse chinaware tinkled in the background as Raquel absentmindedly poured herself a cup of coffee, her gaze focusing on nowhere. She chuckled as she took a sip of the bitter coffee. Merely months ago, she was a coffee snob and a high-ranking negotiator with the Spanish Police Force. Who could have predicted she would be drinking instant coffee and barely scraping by due to some events that happened in a matter of days?

A sharp pang shot through her heart and Raquel quickly shrugged off her feelings and moved on with the breakfast preparation.

“Love is blind but he has moved on and so will I. I will do what I need to do to survive.”

Looking back at the bare kitchen counter, Raquel was reminded of how many kitchenware and basic homeware her house still lacked.

“Does places like Goodwill even sell second-hand homeware? Where do I even go to get such things?”

She put “Get more Homeware and Furniture” into her mental to-do list and went on to make scrambled eggs.   
After making a simple but nutritious breakfast for her family with whatever cheap ingredients she can afford and find in her refrigerator, Raquel finally went back to her bedroom for a final change of clothes and to kiss her sleeping daughter goodbye. Paula arose a little when pecked by her mother, but did not awake. With a final glance at her daughter, Raquel took a deep breathe, shrugged on a her coat and walked out of her house, towards her first job of the day at the Laundromat. 

Three Months Ago- Spain

“Can you sign here please?” The housing agent muttered. With a quick nod and humming in agreement, Raquel hastily scrawled her signature onto the agreement.  
The agreement that will make her the owner of this house. A tiny little house in the outskirts of a very small town. 

“Thank you, Miss Murillo. It’s been a pleasure meeting you.” 

Raquel looked up to see the elderly man Enrique who just sold her his house beaming at her and offering her a handshake. Clapping her hands together around his weathered and rough hands, Raquel thanked the old man profusely and insisted the pleasure is hers. His kind and warm eyes wrinkled as he smiled at her and she was suddenly reminded of her own grandfather. Her heart warmed as she thought of what her own grandfather would have said if he was still with her now. He would have been proud. That she is strong. That she is standing on her own two feet. And starting anew. He would have told her to hold her head up high.   
Raquel’s heart was calm and hopeful for the first time since the heist occurred. 

Soon, the agent and Enrique left Raquel to enjoy her new house, leaving her in a cloud of dust and with the fading sound of tyres on gravel. Raquel looked up to observe her house, alone for the first time. 

To say the house is a little shabby and old is an understatement.

Standing on a front yard of gravel and cobblestone, Raquel’s new house resembled more of an old cottage with its garden overgrown with weed and grass and its façade desperately needing a new coat of paint. The old grey roof and walls of the house looks a little slanted (is it just her eyes?) and the dull coat of paint suggested years of negligence, perhaps due to the elderly Enrique being physically unable to care for the house anymore. However, the windows are huge and from multiple viewings of the house, Raquel knew that they let in abundant light and wind, making the house bright, airy and breezy. Moreover, there is a wooden front porch where a set of rickety table and chairs sat. She smiled, envisioning her daughter, mother and herself having breakfast there on a relaxed Sunday morning. 

All that being said, these all meant nothing to Raquel. Because the house meant so much more to her than just looks.

It signified her Freedom. Her Independence.

Independence from Alberto. Independence from a job with misogynistic colleagues who made her the scapegoat of the failure to capture the band of thieves responsible for the heist. Freedom from a system that oppressed her. And freedom from the ravenous media who tore her apart everyday on the news. 

And she could not love her new little home more.

“But you could. You would love it more if he were here with you”-the voice in her head accused. 

Before Raquel could help herself, an overwhelming blanket of sadness and yearning wrapped around her heart and she let out a deep sigh she did not know she was repressing. 

Does she pop up on his mind in the most random, unexpected moments the way he does in hers? Does he yearn for her, her embrace, warmth and acceptance the way that she yearns for him? If so, where is he? And why did he leave her to be torn apart by the world? Raquel has no answers or solace. Perhaps someday she will come to have some answers. Perhaps one day he will be in her life again.

Perhaps in another lifetime.


End file.
